“……It is now known that on Sunday December 12, as the Indian columns were closing on Dacca….a group of senior Pak army officers and their civilian counterparts met in the city’s Presidential residence. They put together the names of 250 peoples to be arrested and killed, including the cream of Dacca’s professional circles not already liquidated during the civil war. Their arrests were made on Monday and Tuesday by marked bands of extreme right-wing Muslims belonging to an organization called the Al-Badar Razakar…Only hours before the official surrender was signed (on 16th), the victims were taken in groups to the outskirts of the city……where they were summarily executed…….. The Times, December 23, 1971
Brigadiar Kasem and Captain Kayum were the two key officers in the Pakistan army who coordinated the killings of the intellectuals. They had a meeting with Moulana Abdul Mannan then president of the Madrasah Teachers’ Association sometime in November at Mannan’s residence. This might have been the meeting when the slaughter of the intellectuals were planned.
According to the confession of one Mofizuddin (driver of the vehicle of death), Ashrafuzzaman Khan, head of the Queens (New York) branch of Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and ex-member of the Central Committee of the Islami Chhatra Sangha and an ex-employee of Radio Pakistan shot seven teachers with his own hands. As a result of Mofizuddin’s confession, the decomposed bodies of these unfortunate teachers were recovered from the marshes of Rayer Bazar and the mass grave at Shiyal Bari at Mirpur. There was a list of 20 teachers and many other Bangladeshis in his diary. His diary included a list of 16 of the Dhaka University teachers who collaborated with the Pakistanis.
Martyred Intellectuals:
Dhaka University Teachers
* A. N. M. Munier Choudhury
* Dr. G.C. Dev
* Muffazzal Hyder Chowdhury
* Anwar Pasa
* Jyotimay Guhathakurta
* Abdul Muqtadir
* S. M. Rashidul Hasan
* Dr. A.N.M. Faizul Mahi
* Fazlur Rahman Khan
* A.N.M. Maniruzzaman
* Dr. Serajul Haque Khan
* Dr. Shahadat Ali
* Dr. M.A. Khair
* A.R. Khan Kadim
* Muhammad Sadeque
* Sharafat Ali
* Ghiasuddin Ahamed
* Ananda Payan
Rajshahi University Teachers
* Prof. Qayyum
* Habubur Rahman
* Shree Sukha Ranjan Samadder
Names of M.C.A.s
* Mashiur Rahman
* Amjad Hossain
* Aminuddin
* Nazmul Haque Sarker
* Abdul Haque
* Syed Anwar Ali
* A.K. Sarder
Names of Journalists
* Sirajuddin Hossain
* Shahidulla Kaiser
* Khondakar Abu Taleb
* Nizamuddin Ahmed
* A.N.M. Golam Mustofa
* Shahid Saber
* Sk. Abdul Mannan(Ladu)
* Nazmul Haque
* M. Akhter
* Abul Basar
* Chisty Helalur Rahman
* Shibsadan Chakravarty
* Selina Akhter
Names of Physicians
* Md. Fazle Rabbi
* Abdul Alim Chowdhury
* Shamsuddin Ahmed
* Azharul Haque
* Humayun Kabir
* Sulaiman Khan
* Kaiser Uddin
* Mansur Ali
* Ghulam Murtaza
* Hafez Uddin Khan Jahangir
* Abdul Jabbar
* S.K. Lal
* Hem Chandra Basak
* Kazi Obaidul Haq
* Mrs. Ayesaha Bedoura Chowdhury
* Al-Haj Mamotazuddin
* Hashimoy Hazra
* Naren Ghose
* Zikrul Haq
* Shamsul Haq
* M. Rahman
* A. Gafur
* Mansur Ali
* S.K. Sen
* Mafizuddin
* Amulya Kumar Chakravarty
* Atiqur Rahman
* Ghulam Sarwar
* R. C. Das
* Mihir Kumar Sen
* Saleh Ahmed
* Anil Kumar Sinha
* Sunil Chandra Sharma
* A.K.M. Ghulam Mustafa
* Maqbul Ahmed
* Enamul Haq
* Mansur(Kanu)
* Ashraf Ali Talukdar
* Lt. Ziaur Rahman
* Lt. Col. Jahangir
* Badul Alam
* Lt. Col Hai
* Maj. Rezaur Rahman
* Maj. Nazmul Islam
* Asadul Haq
* Nazir Uddin
* Lt. Nurul Islam
* Kazal Bhadra
* Mansur Uddin
Names of Educationists
* Zahir Raihan
* Purnendu Dastidar
* Ferdous Dowla
* Indu Saha
* Meherunnessa
Names of Artists, Professionals, etc.:
* Altaf Mahmud
* Danbir Ranada Prasad Saha
* Jogesh Chandra Ghose
* Dhirendra Nath Dutta
* Shamsuzzaman
* Mahbub Ahmed
* Khurshid Alam
* Nazrul Islam
* Muzammel Haq Chowdhury
* Mohsin Ali
* Mujibul Haq
Source: “Onslaugth on Intellect and Intelligentsia” by late Nurul Islam Patwari published in BANGLADESH: A Souvenir on the First Anniversary of Victory Day, December 16, 1972
Memorial at the site of the mass grave of intellectuals from the 1971 Liberation War.
Image courtesy: Splangs
Articles:
* Our Eternal flame of memory – Syed Badrul Ahsan
* The memory remains – Faizul Khan Tanim visits the War memorial at Mirpur Jalladkhana killing field and returns with haunting stories of an unforgettable legacy.
* My brother Ghyasuddin Ahmad – Rashiduddin Ahmad
* A tribute to Munier Choudhury – Shamsher Chowdhury
* The loss is never recoverable – Morshed Ali Khan
* My Father: S M A Rashidul Hasan – Roquaiya Hasina Neely
* The father I never knew – Tanvir Haider Chaudhury
* Remembering a martyr – Dr. N. Rabbee
* CIA involvement in killing pro Bangladesh intellectuals in 1971
* No count of the nation’s intellectual loss – Shahiduzzaman
* Show us that you care – Asif Munier
* Memory of My Father – Meghna Guhathakurta
* Remembering Dr. Mohammed Fazle Rabbee – Nusrat Rabbee
* Remembering Shaheed Munier Chowdhury – Shamsher Chowdhury and Kabir Chowdhury
* Story of a Martyred Intellectual: Nizamuddin Ahmed
* Shaiduzzaman (December 14, 2005), “Martyred intellectuals: martyred history“, The Daily New Age, Bangladesh
Commemorating the martyred intellectuals:
Images:
Credit: Muktadhara, Banglar.com, Bangladesh 1971